Elder Dallin Stout

Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 1:29 PM

So we got an awesome new car! The CD player works and it has blue tooth and voice control and all that nice stuff! So Tuesday we did more service for the Weather-stones to help them move down stairs. They have continued to amaze me with how many things they have. Just as I think we are done some closet opens that is full of old computer technology from the 90's. We had several lessons scheduled that fell through with Crista and Dione. We did read from the Book of Mormon with the Voudmaska's, Alma 22. On Wednesday we had a lesson with Madelene about the Plan of Salvation. She is strong in her decision to be baptized and has come to church twice now. We went to see Mary and John. He didn't join us and I am a little worried about him. They didn't come to church or stake conference the week before. Mary forgets about the Word of Wisdom and offers us green tea. usually John is on top of that but it has happened a few times. On Friday we saw Nick and he invited us in for a few minutes to share a spiritual thought with him. He is very kind as says he is the same religion as us. He has none but knows that we are all trying to get to heaven some way. On Saturday we met a family knocking doors, the fathers name is Scott and is very inviting. We have seen Troy a few times and he says he will come to church but doesn't. We saw Debbie who just got back from her vacation in China. She is a recent convert and just had a very bad court case, she is depressed but we are trying to get her to the temple now that she is able to.     


 Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 1:23 PM

Tuesday we had a lesson with Crista. We taught her the Plan of salvation, she seemed to understand but I'm not sure how much she remembers. As we were riding our bikes to dinner a guy named Kenny stopped us. He talked to us for a while and had some questions about our beliefs. He gave us his phone number so we will have to follow up with him. Wednesday we had a lesson with Madelene, we went over the baptismal interview questions. Thursday we had our lessons fall through, but we were  talking with some members and found out that a man named Lamont was moving out that day. We went to see him and on the way we saw a lady by her car with groceries. We offered to help her, we talked to her for a bit and found out that she just moved in and used to feed/meet with missionaries. Her name is Angelica and we set up a time for us to come by and visit! Later that day we tracted a building that a sister in the ward has wanted us to tract for a long time. We found a lady named Maria who had met with missionaries in a different area and preferred them to speak Spanish. So we told the sister missionaries in the area to go and see her. On Friday we had a lesson with the Sheppard family, it has been a long ytime since we have seen them. We clarified a few questions they had in 30 min, and planned to come back. Later that day we dropped by John and Mary's to give them a spiritual message. We walked in and John was cooking a lot of food... We looked at Mary's calendar on the wall and realized we were supposed to have dinner with them that night. We showed up just in time to eat with them, this is the second time this has happened. I think the Lord really puts us in the right place at the right time when we forget ourselves where we are supposed to be. On Saturday I prayed that we could have charity for everyone we meet. Well That whole day we got random people shouting weird stuff at us as they drove by multiple times throughout the day. That usually doesn't  happen, so I knew it was a test from the Lord to see if I really cared about everyone even if they didn't necessarily care about us. On Sunday the whole stake participated in a fast for rain. We had lunch at a members home and afterwards we walked outside right into the rain! The Lord answers our prayers but I get the feeling he will onl provide as much as the people need, because a lot of people use so much water when there isn't that much. So we decided to do some tracting before the Super Bowl started. At one house we were invited in, all the people there were college students from the Lutharin University. They were all in the back yard playing beer pong, their was a huge pile of empty beer cans and one guy we were talking to was holding a funnel with a tube attached to the end and it was full of beer. They told us of a few LDS people they knew so we decided to just give them a card and get outta there.       

Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 1:10 PM

So I realize that all of my letters are directly addressed to my apartment. Just so ya know, send them to the mission home in Oxnard. The only time you should use my address is when you send a package with perishable items in it and you have called the mission home to confirm where I live.

This week was awesome, we had a lesson with Madelene and taught her the importance of following the commandments. Thursday it rained like crazy all day and we got to ride our bikes in it! I was super happy the whole day it felt so good to have a change and also an answer to all the peoples prayers here. We didn't get to see too many people out that day but the one person we did see of course wanted to Bible bash for a half hour. On Saturday we were able to have Craig (a return missionary from Japan) come with us to our first lesson with Milly. She just moved from 3rd ward to our ward and told us about her life. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes, then told us she wanted to read more of the Book of Mormon to understand the gospel more. She shared with us an experience she had while undergoing surgery. She had a vision that the voice of God told her that she had a choice to move on to the next life or stay and fulfill her purpose. Throughout the vision she explained in great detail what was happening, it sounded a lot like Lehi's dream in 1 Nephi 8. After she told us everything, we made the connection with Lehi's dream and explained to her using the scripture. 

We also met with Kenny, the guy that waved us down 2 weeks ago. We talked a lot about doctrinal things but didn't get to teach much. He doesn't belong to any denomination but is like a pastor. Craig was able to come to that day as well and was of great use to us by inviting the spirit. On Sunday, Valarie and Cassidy came to church on their own for all 3 hours! They have friends in the ward. Cassidy goes to School with a lot of the young women and she was able to join right in with them. We got there phone number and will try to teach them more. I am so thankful to be an instrument in the Lords hands, I am learning more about my Savior every day and I am glad to be able to tell people that I know for a surety that He lives and that this church is truly His church controlled only by Him through a prophet today.